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Been a 4 month wait - Will get my Krell KSA150 today

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KSA-150 is an odd bird... From what I'm told by people who should know

The design was good if not over-kill but the parts used were subpar. Overall not a shining moment for Krell.

This was a complete overhaul done by a well known local tech at his leisure and relatively speaking was not overly costly

I can hardly wait :music:
 
I'm gonna join this thread not because I'd read the previous one(which I now want to go back and look at), just because I'm interested in seeing your assessment Frank.

Take your time and use the most demanding recordings that you are most intimately familiar with. :thmbsp:

I am often tweaking my system and it was most illustrative last night to play my UK first edition pressing of Pink Floyd's The Wall. What it told me was that my latest tweaks are not one step backward.
 
Addendum.

Listening to my current system which is easily the best system I've ever lived with, I am often struck by the fact that the systems that I have previously owned that gave me the closest sensation to this current one, are the systems which contained the AR 18 speakers.

I know the reason why that is: The 18 doesn't have any crossover element of the bass/midrange driver. Nothing. Nada. Zip. The signal from the amplifier goes directly to the driver with nothing between the amp output stage and the driver except the cable.

That makes a big difference.

Ever since I stumbled into this hi-fi pursuit over 35+ years ago, I aspired to an active loudspeaker system. One with no crossovers between the amps and the drivers. The reason I bought my AR 18 speakers all those years ago, was that I knew that they were designed with a one element crossover (which is one solitary capacitor that rolls-off the low-end of the treble driver). My first active system was pieced together whilst I was starting-out here at AK ten years ago. My current active system is another extension of the fact that I feel that it is THE way to go.

Better in fact than all of the active systems that I've used in the last 10 years, would be a speakers system which didn't even require an active crossover. One where the bass driver rolled-off naturally without crossover elements(as in the AR 18) with the added advantage that the AR 18 doesn't have the benefit of a treble driver which didn't need a capacitor at all.

Then, we could do away with the active crossover altogether. If the drivers were(along with the lack of necessity for a crossover) State Of The Art, the resulting speaker in a SOTA cabinet would be one that I would most certainly be interested in.

For those single driver aficionados out there who want to point out that their speaker doesn't have a crossover. I'll say two words: Doppler Distortion. I'll be even more cheeky and say to them that the key thing that probably draws them back to their full range speakers is not that the driver itself is full range, it is the lack of crossover circuitry between the amp and the driver which gives their fullrangers their musical charm. :yes:
 
Frank Sol said:
KSA-150 is an odd bird... From what I'm told by people who should know

The design was good if not over-kill but the parts used were subpar. Overall not a shining moment for Krell.

This was a complete overhaul done by a well known local tech at his leisure and relatively speaking was not overly costly

I can hardly wait :music:
Click to expand...

Looking forward to your assessments Frank. I live vicariously through others systems.
 
Frank, any word on the comparison between the KSA and the Class D? I see you've taken the Class D out of your signature so I'm assuming it was dethroned.

-Steven
 
Well... I sorta forgot about this thread :smoke:

The Krell is in and will be in the main system for at least a few more weeks. The overhaul was major so I'm giving it plenty of break-in time 1) to sound its best and 2) make sure all is well

The Class D amp is a fine amp! But if I had to choose between the two right now as my only amp I would keep the Krell - But that shouldnt be a shocker or a detriment to the Class D considering everything

Never have I owned a sharper cleaner sounding system: BDP-105/SFL-2/KSA150/Klipsch Forte
 
Frank Sol said:
Never have I owned a sharper cleaner sounding system: BDP-105/SFL-2/KSA150/Klipsch Forte
Click to expand...

That's a Krell signature sound, which is why you hear so many calling Krell harsh and shrill. They're VERY detailed. A sound I like, but many don't if they're not used to it...
 
Congrats on your rebuilt 150.

I owned the 250 for about 7 yrs and still rank it as one of the best ss amps I've ever heard.

As far as Krell having a signature sound...I don't quite agree with that. The first Krell I had in my house was a KSA300s. I lived with it for 6 months but never warmed up to it so I sold it. Next, a friend gave me his FPB600 to try. I had those for about a month and returned them. Next, a friend/retailer knew I was looking for nice class A amp, told me he had a real nice 250 and our exchange went like this: I said, "I don't think I'm a Krell guy". He said, "I think you will like this one, if you don't just send it back". He did. He was right. Whether I hooked it up to B&W 801's, Merlin VSM's or my Apogee Duettas, it was the best ss I had heard. Very different from the other 2 generations. I don't know how the newest Krells sound. I always liked Nelson Pass's amps and that's the ss I listen to now.

Enjoy your "new" 150.
 
I will never get rid of my KSA250 if I can help it!

I have owned several Krells and more other amps than I can remember and the 250 is indeed a rare bird,in almost every way in my experience.

This one pretty much started a movement of brute force power that continues Today but somehow remains as relevant as it ever has at the same time.

A friend has a pair of MDA300's which are the mono blocked KSA150 and I don't like them as much in a lot lot of ways.

I have owned and sold Pass,Threshold,Plinius,ARC,McIntosh and a lot of others both consumer and commercial but I have rarely heard one that I prefer to the KSA250.

The only other I have kept is a Proceed HPA2 which holds its own without trouble but also is not a KSA250!

It can be tough to have enough juice to run one and I can not run mine in the STL summer really but.......

Hope you keep liking the 150 and it will keep getting better too.

Ed
 
AVService said:
I will never get rid of my KSA250 if I can help it!

I have owned several Krells and more other amps than I can remember and the 250 is indeed a rare bird,in almost every way in my experience.

This one pretty much started a movement of brute force power that continues Today but somehow remains as relevant as it ever has at the same time.

A friend has a pair of MDA300's which are the mono blocked KSA150 and I don't like them as much in a lot lot of ways.

I have owned and sold Pass,Threshold,Plinius,ARC,McIntosh and a lot of others both consumer and commercial but I have rarely heard one that I prefer to the KSA250.

The only other I have kept is a Proceed HPA2 which holds its own without trouble but also is not a KSA250!

It can be tough to have enough juice to run one and I can not run mine in the STL summer really but.......

Hope you keep liking the 150 and it will keep getting better too.

Ed
Click to expand...

Enjoyed your post. Yeah, the 250 sure could heat up a room. I remember it drawing around 7 amps out of the wall even at idle.

I had wondered about the MDA500 version of it but the times I have heard a bridged version of an amp, I haven't liked it as much (seemed to lose some sweetness) and the 250 felt like it always had enough power and was just loafing along.

I liked it more than a Pass X350. It has taken one of Pass's XA.5 series of amps to do it for me in the ss dept these days.
 
having owned a few Krell BIG boys my only Krell I wont sell is my KSA 100s as its sweet as liquid honey !Bass that is deep and warm
 
superdog , it is a great amp for the right person

I enjoyed it

Too much amp for my current situation. Too hot to run in the summer months and I never really cranked it up for a full listening session

Person who bought it will crank it and not worry about the heat for he has a much larger listening room

Also , I got 'my price' for it
 
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